


All That was and is to Be

by sunny_snake



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Breif panic attack thing, But also gopd platontic fluff, Dont come @ me boyf shippers i just prefer them as friends and i like jer w chris, Drinking, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gay, Homosexual, I forgot to add that last night smh its p gay, I should add i dont dislike boyfs i just lov me some stagedorks, I swear my tags do not reflect my writing smh, Ill add more tags in the morning, Im just realizing how many typos are in these tags but im too lazy to fix them, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Its abt richjake but also rich's relationships with all his friends bc yes, M/M, Michael tries to bring weed tp chloes house smh, New Year's Eve, New Years, Party, Partying, Pinkberry, Rated t for the swearing and drinking, Rich centric for once, Rich gets spooked but jake calms him down bc hes a good boyf, Richjake centric w background stagedorks and pinkberry, Romance, Sorry if its ooc im not too confident in how i write him, Sparklers, Stagedorks, This is really cheesy but i kinda love it, Underage Drinking, Very little angst but some, richjake, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 10:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13269147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunny_snake/pseuds/sunny_snake
Summary: Chloe hosts a New Year's Eve party for the whole squad and Rich reminisces about everything tha's happened between them all.(Ik its 3 am on january 6th now shh i kept forgetting to post this here hopefully its not totally irrelevant at this point)





	All That was and is to Be

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry rhis is late oops i kept forgetting to post it here but i hope yall enjoy it anyway
> 
> Also fun fact im currently hiding in a hotel bathroom posting this bc i cant get to sleep for the life of me :')

**December 31st, 6:03 PM**

Are you sure we shouldn't have brought something?"

"Relax, Jake, Chloe told us not to." Rich sat in the passenger seat as Jake parked the car in front of Chloe's house. "I'm sure she'll have more than enough food and drinks for for everyone."

"I know," Jake sighed, turning off the engine. "I just feel bad."

Chloe was hosting a New Year's Eve party for the whole squad, and for the last week or so she'd seemed pretty excited for it. It would just be the eight of them: her, Brooke, Rich, Jake, Jeremy, Michael, Christine, and Jenna. Not even Chloe's parents would be there; according to Chloe they always ditched her to go to some adult parties. Rich and Jake made their way up the Valentines' short driveway, knowing they probably had a wild night ahead of them.

Before they even got to the door they could hear the music, hits from the last year blasting through the house.

"No, Michael, you are not smoking weed in my house!" Was the lovely voice Rich and Jake were greeted to when they opened the door.

Chloe was glaring at Michael, who was literally holding a joint he must have just pulled out. Rich rolled his eyes, but he wasn't entirely surprised. It was Michael Mell after all.

"Did you seriously think she would let you?" Jenna raised her eyebrows at him, though there was a trace of an amused smile on her face.

Michael rolled his eyes, stuffing it back in his pocket. "Fine, fine. You guys are losers."

"Says the loser," Brooke scoffed, then smiled when she noticed Rich and Jake in the doorway. "Oh hey guys! Come on in, there's drinks and snacks in the kitchen." Brooke pointed behind her.

"Oh yeah, have as much as you want!" Chloe grinned brightly, "and get ready for one hell of a night."

**December 31st, 7:19 PM**

"Let's get lit, hoes." Chloe held a lighter up in the air, flicking it on for emphasis.

The group of friends was gathered in the spacious living room, sprawled about the couches and floor. Rich sat cross-legged, twirling the small stick in his hand while Chloe made her rounds with the lighter, lighting everyone's sparklers one by one.

He barely noticed her stop in front of him. "Rich?" She spoke almost cautiously; uncharacteristic of Chloe. "It's totally fine if you, like, don't want to do one."

He knew what she was getting at. Sparklers are similar to fire, and fire was a big no-no for Rich for... obvious reasons. But sparklers are fireworks, and Rich had always loved fireworks, right?

He practically thrusted the thing at her to be lit. He wasn't gonna pussy out over a sparkler, something little kids played with. He would be fine.

Okay, maybe he wouldn't be fine. As Chloe ignited the flame, Rich's heartrate picked up instinctively. The sparkler he was holding did look awfully similar to the match he'd had on that horrible night, and suddenly he was back in that burning house. Chloe was already gone, having moved on to light Jenna's sparkler, but Rich couldn't move.

He felt a familiar panic start to rise in his chest as his surroundings blurred around him. He could almost feel the flames again, hear the screams of partygoers running out of the house. But then Rich felt an arm wrap around him and a chin softly rest on his shoulder. His racing heart began to slow as his body relaxed slightly. Jake.

"You okay?" Jake's tone was soft but casual, not filled with that sickeningly patronizing pity Rich would often get from well meaning people. He hated that pity so goddamn much sometimes. It made him feel so small and pathetic. But it was never like that with Jake. "We can put it out, no one will make fun of you. We can put all of them out if you need us to." Jake nodded to the others around the room with their own sparklers.

Brooke and Chloe were handing each other their phones, trying to get aesthetic pictures for Instagram, no doubt. Eventually they consulted Jenna, who begrudgingly took both devices and shot photos of the girls posing together, and then individually with the small fireworks.

Rich couldn't help but smile at the sight, and the panic began to cease further. He shook his head. It was okay. It wouldn't be like the Halloween party. His SQUIP deactivated now, and even if something were to happen his friends would be here to stop it.

"But can you stay here?" Rich kept his eyes on the trained on the flame in his hand.

"Of course."

Rich was so thankful for Jake, which sounds cliche but it's the simplest way to put it. When Rich had been at his lowest after all that SQUIP bullshit, Jake had been there for him. Sure, everyone else had been there too. His friends had been incredibly supportive beyond anything he thought was possible. But Jake? Rich would go as far as to say that Jake had saved him.

He didn't deserve it, really. He'd burned down his damn house, for Christ's sake. Sure it wasn't really his fault, but he'd chosen to get a SQUIP so it was his by extension, right? Rich didn't deserve Jake as a friend, much less a boyfriend. But Jake always insisted otherwise.

And Jake was there now, resting his chin comfortably on Rich's shoulder. He held his sparkler next to Rich's, keeping his free arm wrapped around his torso as the two watched the sparks silently.

He heard shuffling and then giggling, and looked up to see Christine and Jeremy twirling their sparklers around and writing each other's names in the air, followed by Chloe scolding them. Her parents would kill her if they burned the house down.

His eyes then travelled to Michael who was sitting behind them, and Rich nearly snorted at the sight. Michael had stuck the end of his sparkler in his mouth and held it between his fingers like he was pretending to smoke it. Someone seriously needed to stop that kid.

Finally he looked back down at the sparklers in Jake's and his hands. As he watched the flames slowly work their way down before finally sparking out, Rich couldn't beleive how happy he was to be there.

**December 31st, 9:43 PM**

Contrary to Chloe who was more of a chill drunk, Brooke got quite rowdy with alcohol. Rich realized that pretty early on in the night. Flirty, too, which surprised him a bit. It surprised Chloe too, who happened to be the victim of most of that flirting. And Rich had never thought he'd say the day where Chloe Valentine would get flustered.

Brooke had even tried flirting with Jeremy briefly, but Christine and Chloe both put an end to that quickly. Rich wasn't sure which of them had glared at the blonde harder.

Jeremy was tispy too, he was a lightweight. He was a fun drunk, with all of his awkward nerdiness but nothing holding him back.

Christine even had a few drinks, but she handled it surprisingly well. If anything she was slightly more peppy and talkative, but Rich couldn't really tell. You could never know with Christine, after all.

Michael surprisingly stayed sober, but Rich was pretty sure it was just out of spite for not being allowed to get high.

Rich sipped his sparkling cider contently as he watched the scene. Hey, say what you want but he wanted to keep his wits about him that night. He wanted to remember everything clearly, not muddled by alcohol in the future. Plus, if Rich learned anything in the past few months, it was that he didn't need any substances in his system to feel good around these people.

The stuff tasted way better too, which was a bonus. Though Rich figured it was a general consensus that alcohol was more about the effect than the taste, aside from those fancy mixed everyone here was probably too poor to buy anyway.

He felt Jake plop down on the couch next to him. Come to think of it, Rich hadn't seen him have a drink either, which was unusual. Not that Jake always drank, but he usually at least did at parties.

"Why aren't you drinking?"

Jake shrugged. "I could ask you the same thing." A pause. "I guess I just don't need to drink when I'm with you."

So, Rich wasn't the only one with that idea. It honeslty surprised him coming from Jake, though. He had always been the life of the party. He guessed they'd all changed some in the past few months.

"You're so cheesy," Rich finally replied.

Jake smirked, kissing the side of his head. "Yeah, but that's why you love me, right?"

Jake was right, they both knew that. Rich loved how sappy Jake got with him, as much as he pretended not to. Just with one phrase or action he could make him feel like the most important man in the world, and Rich did love him for that. But he woudln't give Jake the satisfaction of hearing him admit that out loud.

"You just keep telling yourself that."

**December 31st, 11:59 PM**

The group of friends were gathered in front of the TV, watching as the countdown got closer and closer to midnight.

Christine had made the executive decision to take the alcohol away a few hours ago, and after a few whines of protest from some, the group had begrudgingly agreed and resigned to soda and sparkling juice.

_Ten._

The countdown began, and Jake ushered everyone to stand up. Which everyone obliged to, excitedly shouting out the numbers.

_Nine._

As the numbers flashed on the screen, Rich glanced around the room at all the people that had come to mean so much to him.

_Eight._

Michael. As the other designated meme of the friend group, he was usually just the guy Rich would just joke around with, but he could also be the most understanding person you'd ever meet. He was someone Rich could always count on to just listen without judgement.

_Seven._

Brooke. Even before the whole mess they'd been close, but after the incident she became like a sister to him. She didn't question or judge, she was always there to listen or talk or just offer her silent support for whatever he was going through. And much like Chloe she could be fierce too, taking down anyone who tried to give any of them shit.

_Six._

Christine. Probably one of the nicest people he would ever meet, she brought so much positivity and energy to the people around her. Whenever Rich tried to be down on himself, jokingly or not, she would have none of it. She was always ready to remind everyone of their self worth, and Rich didn't thank her enough for that. He needed it much more than he'd like to admit.

_Five._

Jenna. She never said it but he knew she felt awful for all the rumors she'd spread about him after the fire. She didn't think Rich noticed the little things she always did for him; sneaking candy into his locker, making sure there was always a spot for him at the lunch table, keeping an eye out for anyone who dared try to make fun of him for his lisp or sexuality or otherwise.

_Four._

Jeremy. He'd had a SQUIP the longest besides Rich, and even though it was something they didn't really talk about, it was comforting knowing there was at least someone who understood. He didn't even hold it against Rich how much of an asshole he'd beem to him when he was squipped.

_Three._

Chloe. Even if she wasn't always the best at showing how much she cared, Chloe was one of the most fiercly loyal people Rich knew. She wasn't sweet like Christine and Brooke, but she would not hesitate to destroy anyone who tried to hurt Rich, or any of them for that matter.

_Two._

Jake. Of course Jake. Rich had been so scared, so ready to be rejected by him when Jake realized he was a completely different person than the Rich that had been his best friend. But it was the opposite. Jake had been the first to accept him, assuring him that the real Rich was so much better, no matter how many doubts he had. At the very least Rich never expected Jake to love him back. But he did, and here Rich was, able to call Jake Dillinger his boyfriend.

_One._

That year had brought its fair share of ups and downs, there was no doubt about that, and no one knew what the next would bring. But hearing his friends' whoops and cheers all around him as the ball dropped and Jake swooped him and kissed him like no one was watching, Rich knew he'd never have it any other way.

**Januaury 1st, 12:00 AM**

Happy New Year.

**Author's Note:**

> Ehhh i should probably try and go back to bed now anyways hope yall enjoyed leave ur comments and kudos and all that
> 
> Esp comments pls i live for comments i love feedback


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